Truss-pad supporter.



0. GLUTHE, s11. TRUSS PAD SUPPORTER.

APPLIOATION FILED DEO.18, i912 Patented May 27, 1913.

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-0. GLUTHE, s3. TRUSS PAD SUPPORTER.

APPLIOATION TILED 1330.18, 1912.

Patented May 27, 1913.

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APPLICATION FILED DEC. 16, 1912.

' 1,06 3,009. Patented May 27, 1913.

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IIIIIIIIIIIII 41 35 29 j g' 7/? A? b g mm Wcoz CHARLES CLUTI-IE, $3.,015 GLEN RIDGE, NEW JERSEY.

TRUSS-PAD SUPPORTER.

Specification of Letters Iatent.

Patented May 27,1913.

Application filed December 18, 1912. Serial No. 737,436.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, CHARLES CLUTHE, Sr., a citizen of the United States,and a resident of Glen Ridge, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey,have invented cer tain new and useful Improvements in Truss- PadSupporters, of which the following is a full and clear specification,illustrated in the accompanying drawings, the novel features of theinvention being more particularly pointed out in the annexed claims.

My invention relates to truss pad supporters which are held to the bodyof the wearer in such fashion that they will permit the greatest freedomof motion of the V wearer without thereby exerting an undue strain orwithout shifting out of place. Moreover, by my improved connection ofthe supporter to the back belt, I obtain the effect that the supporteris pressed against the body with an increased pressure at such pointswhere the truss pads are located so that the latter always bear with thedesired pressure against the hernia. Lastly, by the improved form of thepad, shown and described, in cooperation with the supporter, I obtainthe effect that any internal strains against the hernia, caused bycoughing, lifting and the like, which tend to force the lower intestinesdown, thereby spreading the muscles of the hernia, are successfullycounteracted by the tendency of the pad to return to its normalposition, by reason of the yielding nature of the pad neck. Thus the padforms an efiective support for the hernia and a resistance againststrains at the very instant the downward force is produced by the lungs.

My invention also relates to a novel form of attaching the truss pad tothe pad sup porter and lastly my invention relates to an improved formof the belt connected with the supporter by which the least possibleinconvenience to the wearer is secured.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which-Figure 1 shows a full view of the pad supporter facing the body of thewearer. Fig. 2 is an outside view thereof. Fig. 3 is a top plan of thesupporter. Fig. 4 shows the supporter attached to the' body of thewearer. Fig. 5 shows the pad connected to the supporter. Fig. 6 showsthe pad in plan view. Fig. 7 shows a larger view of the hip pads. Fig. 8shows a side view of one of the hip pads. Fig. 9 shows a modiwhichconsists of fication of the manner in which the truss pad is fastened toits support. Figs. 10 and 11 are detail views of the structure shown inFig. 9. Fig. 12 shows a portion of the pad supporter shown in Fig. 2with a modified connection of the straps for holding the supporter, andFig. 13 shows the back strap with the two hip pads.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3, 1 represents a metal plate with upturnededges 2, as shown in Figs. 2 and 3 of suitable shape to convenientlyarrange the truss pads and the means for holding the supporter thereon.As will be seen from these figures, the plate has enlarged endsandsubstantially in the center of each enlarged portion the plate isdished as shown at 3, the concave side facing the wearer.

plate by means of a screw and nut 5. The

constructional form of the pad 4: shown in Fig. 5 shows a neck 6 at theouter end of which the bolt and nut are attached and medium soft rubberwhereas the pad portion proper 4, may consist of harder or even hardrubber. It will be noted that the neck 6 is semispherical at its outerend where it carries the bolt 5 so that when neck 6 is screwed againstthe dished portion 3 by means of nut 5 the pad, owing to the yieldingcharacter of the neck 6 can be bent in all directions and freedom ofmovement with a strong tendency. to return to normal posit-ion isobtained thereby which is necessary for the proper function of the pad.

As shown in Figs. 2 and 8 the pad supporter 1 has attached to itsoutside at its central contracted portion, a double hook 7 and eachenlarged end portion of the'supporter carries on its outside two guideferrules 8, attached to the plate by means of a foot 9 so that theferrules are raised a suitable distance above the outer surface of plate1, as shown in Fig. 3. The double hook 7 and ferrules 8 serve forholding and guiding the cords 10 through which the supporter is attachedto the back belt as shown in Fig. 4. As will be noted from Fig. 2 eachholding cord 10 is hooked into hook 7 and each of its ends passesthrough one of the ferrules 8 disposed on that side of the plate andthen attached to the ends 1111 of the back strap by suitable means forinstance A. detail view of the p dished portion of the plate is shown inby buttons 12-12 as shown in Fig. 4. By raising ferrules 8 above thesurface of the plate 1, I am able to exert a strong pressure at thepoint where the truss pads 1 are attached to the plate, ferrules 8 beingfor this purpose arranged on either side of the dished portion to whichthe pad is attached. Cords 10, as will be noted, are free to slidethrough ferrules 8 and also on hook 7 so that they will easily giveduring the motion of the wearer. In order to avoid garments from beingcaughtin hook 7 I provide a hinged cover 13 on the central portion ofthe plate which can be closed over hook 7 as shown in Fig. 4.

Instead of hooking cords 10 directly to hook 7 I may first place anelastic rubber ring 1 1 on each end of hook 7 and then attach, by meansof an intermediate metal ring 15, the cords 10 to rubber rings 14 sothat a yielding connection between the cords and the hook is obtainedthereby which further increases the elasticity of the connection andfurther adds to the convenience of the wearer. This modification isshown in Fig. 12 which otherwise shows an arrangement similar to the oneillustrated in Fig. 2. By separating the two ends of each cord 10 farapart and leading them through guide ferrules 8 which are near the upperand lower edge of the enlarged portion of the supporting plate, I obtainthe effect thatthe plate is securely balanced and drawn toward the bodyof the wearer.

The back strap to the two ends of which the cords 10 are attached, ispreferably constructed as follows. The portion which passes around theback of the wearer consists of two elastic strips 1717 running parallelto each other and which are held together by means of a leather strip18, which is narrower than the two strips 17 together. The edges ofstrip 18 are sewed to strips 17 as shown. These strips are of elasticmaterial and are held together by the aforesaid leather strip 18 onlythroughout the length which passes around the back of the wearer. Bythus having strip 18 narrower than the two strips 17 taken together, asmall portion of strip 17 will protrude beyond the edge of the strip 18on either side and by turning over the edge of strip 18 these edges forma soft cushion which prevents chafing of the skin. Strips 17 areseparated on each end of leather strip 18 adjacent to the hips of thewearer by means of a leather pad 19, to the edge of which they are sewedas shown in Fig. 13 and in larger scale in Fig. 7 at 20. The free ends1.1 of elastic strips 17 are then attached to cords 10 as previouslydescribed with reference to Fig. 1. The side of leather pad 19 whichfaces the wearer is preferably lined with deer skin which I find mostpractical for this purpose inasmuch as it does not produce soreness ofthe skin notwithstanding the hair on the deer skin is comparativelyhard. The deer skin which is sewed onto pad 19 is indicated in Figs. 7and 8 at 21.

Instead of attaching the pad 4 to the supporting plate in the mannerdescribed and shown with reference to Fig. 5, I also may attach the pad4 in the manner shown in Fig. 9. In this figure it will be noted a metalpin 22 is attached to pad 1 instead of neck 6 and a sleeve 23 of softrubber is slipped over pin 22, the sleeve having comparatively thickwalls at the portion surrounding pin 22 whereas beyond the pin thesleeve flares out into a cup 2 1 with a thickened rim 25. This rimpreferably contains a split metal ring 26 shown in detail in Fig. 11 sothat by means of this ring the sleeve can be sprung behind thecontracted portion 27 of cup 3 asshown in Fig. 9. Cup 3 fur thercontains a flat ball of medium soft rubber 28 which is attached to thecenter of the cup by means of a bolt and nut- 29. The material of whichball 28 is made is sufliciently soft so that the ball can slightly rollon the bottom of cup 3. On top of this ball rests cup 2st in such mannerthat pin 22 of pad 4 bears against the upper portion of ball 28. Thusthe pad will easily yield in all direc tions, however with the tendencyof automatically returning to its normal position shown in Fig. 9, dueto the resiliency of rubber sleeve 23. A detail view of the ball isshown in Fig. 10.

that I claim is:

1. A truss pad supporter comprising a plate curved to the form of thewearer and enlarged at both ends and having recesses in said endportions facing the wearer and adapted to receive and hold the pads,cords for attaching the plate to the wearer, means for guiding each cordpast the central portion of said plate, and guide ferrules attached toeach end portion above and below said recess for spreading and guidingeach cord away from the plate in two lengths apart from each other.

2. A truss pad supporter comprising a plate curved to the form of thewearer and enlarged at both ends and having recesses in said endportions facing the wearer and adapted to receive and hold the pads,cords for attaching the plate to the wearer, means for guiding each cordpast the central portion of said plate, and guide ferrules attached toeach end portion above and below said recess and raised above the outerface of the plate for spreading and guiding each cord away from theplate in two lengths apart from each other.

3. A truss pad supporter comprising a plate curved to the form of thewearer and enlarged at both ends and having recesses in said endportions facing the wearer and adapted to receive and hold the pads,cords for attaching the plate to the wearer, means for guiding each cordpast the central portion of said plate, said guiding means beingelastically connected with said cords, and guide ferrules attached toeach end portion above and below said recess, for spreading and guidingeach cord away from the plate in two lengths apart from each other.

4. A truss pad supporter comprising a plate curved to the form of thewearer and enlarged at both ends and having recesses in said endportions facing the wearer and adapted to receive and hold-the pads,cords for attaching the plate to the wearer, means for guiding each cordpastthe central portion of said plate, said guiding means beingelastically connected with said cords, and guide ferrules attached toeach end portion above and below said recess and raised above the outerface of the plate for spreading and guidingeach cord away from the platein two lengths apart from each other.

5. A truss pad supporter comprising a plate curved to the form of thewearer and enlarged at both ends and having recesses in said endportions facing the wearer and adapted to receive and hold the pads,cords for attaching the plate to the wearer, a double hook attached tothe central portion of said plate having an elastic ring for each cordattached to it, and a guide attached to each ring for guiding each cordpast the central portion of said plate and guide ferrules attached toeach end portion above and be low said recess and raised above the outerface of the plate for spreading and guiding each cord away from theplate in two lengths apart from each other.

6. A truss pad support of the character described having two recessedportions near its respective ends contracted at their mouths and facingthe wearer, an elastic ball attached to the bottom of each recess, atruss pad having a hard stem, an elastic sleeve surrounding said stemand being cupped to partway surround said ball, said cupped portionhaving a yielding ring adapted to slip behind the contracted mouth ofthe recess, said stem resting against the upper portion of said ball.

7. A truss pad support of the character described, consisting of a platecurved to the form of the wearer and having enlarged ends, a recess ineach end portion at the point where the pads are located, a truss padhaving a neck of flexible material adapted-to protrude into saidrecess,said neck having a semispherical end resting on the bottom of saidrecess and means for attaching said neck to said recessed bottom.

8. A truss pad supporter comprising a rigid plate adapted to carry thepads, cords connected to said plate and spaced apart at either end ofsaid plate, a back strap consisting of two parallel strips of elasticmaterial joined by a non-elastic strip narrower than the width of bothelastic strips, said narrower strip extending across the back of thewearer, a spreading member for separating said two elastic strips oneither side of the wearer sewed at its edges to the edges of saidelastic strips, suitable padding attached to the underside of saidspreading member and said elastic strips, said spread elastic stripsbeing suitably joined with said spaced cords on either side of thewearer.

CHARLES CLUTHE, SR.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents Washington, D. C.

